All posts by Stohion Staff

Speech & Debate team hosts and competes in tournament

By Sophia Boris

The high school Speech and Debate team began their year on a good note.

There are weekly tournaments held at different schools, including the high school, Kimpton and Lakeview. This past weekend students participated in a tournament at the high school.

Perry High School placed first overall for the tournament. Stow ended up placing 3rd overall.

Coach of the Speech and Debate team Sue Theisen said, “Overall the results were very [good].” 

“Stow did really well, I am proud of my entire team,” sophomore Sarah Laubaugh said.

Teams are not just judged as a team but also by individual and team performances. There are multiple categories in which one can choose to compete. For example, one category one can choose from is argumentative. Every category has a winner.

The team had a very successful weekend in these individual and team performances. Seniors Matt McCombs and Cam Stebbins placed 3rd in duo, and juniors Savannah Novak and Elizabeth Angeletti placed 5th in duo. Along with these performances, seniors Madison Light and Samantha Wilcox placed 2nd in duo. Lastly, junior Chloe Holm topped it off by placing 1st in poetry.

With the Speech and Debate team having a triumphant weekend, Theisen looks to have further success this year.

Theisen said, “Each week the teams getting better.”

These weekly tournaments are preparing the team for districts and states later this season.

There was a huge turnout for this event. There were 663 people at this event and 179 adult judges.

Theisen said, “We could not have done all of this without the help of our parent boosters who fed everyone, the wonderful administration who lets us use the schools for these events and special thanks to the TWE who stayed all day and helped with electrical issues.”

         The Speech and Debate team does not only work together in school, but they act as one unit. They are like a family.

         Sophomore Annemarie McCombs said, “Ms. Theisen is the light of my world and the love of my life.”

        The SMFHS speech and debate team strives to continue their season on a good note.

      

 

          

         

Ideas of Halloween excitement vary amongst teenagers

By Alyssa Kuntz

Halloween is a very popular time of year, but with kids and teens growing older many noticed they seem to become less festive, and they do not partake in the same activities as they used to.

Halloween is a time of year where kids usually go trick or treating. While trick or treating, kids dress up in any costume and walk around their neighborhood with friends or family. When they reach a house they all say “trick or treat” and then the neighbor gives them a piece of candy.

However, now, as children get older around ages 13, 14 or 15, they decide that they are too old to go trick or treating anymore. This is the case for many teens across the country.

“I stopped going trick or treating about two or three years ago,” sophomore Hassan Badat said.

On the other hand, some students still like to go trick or treating.

“This year I was a strawberry,” senior Audrey White said.

These students love receiving candy and hanging out with their friends as they trick or treat around many local developments. Trick or treating will never get old for them, and they always feel that there is no set age to quit such a fun festivity.

“I did not go trick or treating this year, but what I loved most about going in previous years, was hanging out with my friends,” sophomore Logan Winters said.

In today’s society, there has been a new attraction becoming very popular amongst teens: haunted houses. Instead of going trick or treating, many kids go to haunted houses where they seek the adrenaline rush and the thrill of being scared.

Another thing teens do instead of going trick or treating is just going to a party. The students may just go to someone’s house to hangout, or they might dress up in a costume and go to someone’s house for a halloween-themed party.

As trick or treating becomes less popular among older adolescents, it can either be a fun time out with friends, or cherished memories of the past. However, as everyone grows older, they still find different ways to celebrate this spooky holiday most Americans seem to love.

Anonymous author writes meaningful book of poetry

By Mya Cannon

I Wrote This For You is a story written by an anonymous author who goes by pleasefindthis. The book is a collection of 186 different short poems divided into four different groups: sun, moon, stars and rain.

The book’s description gives you a preview of how emotional it will be.  The description starts out with, “I need you to understand something. I wrote this for you. I wrote this for you and only you.” This line creates not only mystery and suspense, but it also creates a feeling of sympathy for the author from the reader.

The author relates all of the poems he or she has written in I Wrote This For You back to the one person they want to read this book and calls this person “you,”

The author says in the description, “Everyone else who reads it, doesn’t get it. They may think they get it, but they don’t.” I think this shows the personal meaning behind the book and how each poem can mean something different to each person that reads them.

Each poem seems to tell a short story of heartbreak and regret. A poem from the book is called “The Skeletons In The Sea” is an example of this. 

“Truth is the last thing I can take because it’s the last thing you took,” the author writes.

One of the main feelings I get from this poem is sorrow because what I think it means is someone lied to the author right before they left him or her.

All of the poems in I Wrote This For You have very deep meanings to them even though most of the poems are only one or two sentences with the occasional poem that is a couple of paragraphs long.

My favorite poem from I Wrote This For You is called “The Children Of Time” and a line from this is, “Sunday knows she’s the end. But she closes her eyes, and she pretends with all the strength in her tiny heart that really, she’s the dawn.”

I believe this line shows that even when you know something probably will not end up going right in a situation you should still have hope because you really do not know for sure how something will turn out in the end.

Over all I think that I Wrote This For You is a really great book and I would highly recommend it.